ASK FATHER CHAS - EP4
What is the SSPX Schism?
Yes. It can be very confusing. Just a little primer for those who don't know what the Society of Saint Pius the 10th is or SSPX for short, it's a movement founded over 50 years ago, in 1970 by an archbishop, Marcel Lefebvre, who wanted to retain the Trinity Mass or the Traditional Latin Mass, just as it was before the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
So the SSPX is not in full communion with the Catholic Church, because they reject some of the doctrinal developments of Vatican two, and the legitimacy and dignity of the Novus Ordo, which is the Holy Mass in its present form. After having incorporated the developments decreed by Vatican two. So that allowed the use of the vernacular language. For example, it permitted communion and the hand for the countries whose bishops ask for it, as well as the priest to turn towards the people, versus instead of facing in the same direction as the people toward God, which is ad orientum right now.
Where this can get confusing is that along with these developments, many priests become kind of loosey goosey with the Mass and took on an anything goes approach to the Divine Liturgy. And so many of the faithful were jarred and disillusioned, and they naturally thought that these other radical changes were also a result of Vatican two, but were actually deviations and abuses of what the Second Vatican Council fathers actually decreed and envisioned.
And so all of this confusion had a number of the people questioning the legitimacy of the Council reforms, even though what people were oftentimes observing in the pews were miss applications of the actual reforms called for by the Council fathers. So the liturgy became so different in practice that it lacked any of the continuity that Vatican two also wanted to maintain in the liturgy, and to actually read what the Council Fathers actually envisioned.
You can begin with reading Vatican Two's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanct Concilium.
So people experienced those abrupt, radical changes in the 70s, and they accurately sense something wasn't right, but that made them susceptible to the assertions of groups like SSP, who to this day questions the legitimacy of a number of aspects of the Second Vatican Council. In fact, just recently, the society rejected the Holy See's proposal for theological dialog and said, unfortunately, that they will go ahead with their plans to ordain schismatic bishops later this year. So it's unfortunate because there are a number of good intention, people who want to stay faithful to the Church but are misled by the SSPX, which has a relatively small group of bishops and priests whom they would rather believe over the full magisterium of the church, the official teaching office. Plus, a lot of liturgical abuses rampant in the latter part of the 20th century have been corrected in this last generation. Thanks be to God. Right.
So finally, the anonymous person who asks the question is correct in pointing out how it's not difficult to find a more traditional leaning liturgy in Jackson. You have the extraordinary form of the traditional Latin Mass, celebrated each Sunday at 1 p.m. at Saint Mary, star of the sea, and here at Saint John, our 12 p.m. Sunday Mass is celebrated with the Eucharistic Prayer in Latin, and the priest is ad orientum, meaning that during the liturgy of the Eucharist, the priest faces east with the people, and we have worship aids in the pews that have the English translation beside the Latin Eucharistic Prayer, so that you can follow along with what the what the priest is saying. And that Sunday noon mass is known for its sense of reverence and solemnity.
But I suggest you come and experience it for yourself to see if it aids you in worshiping God more reverently and more deeply. God Bless You.
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